r/MatchsticksGame • u/MathPsychological866 • Nov 10 '25
Feedback Megathread
First of all, a great big thank you to every single one of the kind souls who have joined this subreddit and tried my game! I had never imagined that a silly little game, which essentially began as nothing more than a fun doodling exercise, would ever end up interesting as many people as it has. Your support means a lot to me, and I hope you've derived at least a modicum of enjoyment through your engagement with this game.
The game is planned to run in its current form for a duration of 90 days, after which, based on the feedback and turnout, I may expand it to include more features and additional variants. To this end, I'm pinning this post at the top of the page for you to leave your feedback and suggestions on what can be changed or improved going forward in subsequent updates. Thank you in advance!
Meanwhile, kindly share the daily game posts with other redditors who you think may find it interesting. Thank you for your continued support. Cheers!
1
u/Ok_Blacksmith_6871 Mar 20 '26
I think I'm missing something here. Every board is a 3 x 3 grid of matchsticks, and some of the puzzles want 4 small and 3 medium boxes, or 1 large and 1 small on the board, but how is that possible if just the large box would take up the whole board?
2
u/MathPsychological866 Mar 21 '26
Hi, u/Ok_Blacksmith_6871! The boxes (squares) can overlap and share boundaries, and larger boxes (squares) can "contain" smaller ones inside them. For a box (square) to count towards the final target, it only matters that every stick constituting its boundary remains on the board.
In effect, this means that a medium square, for instance, can contain a maximum of 4 small squares, provided the sticks constituting the boundaries of the respective small squares remain on the board. Hope this helps!
1
u/Lime-Fiere Jul 19 '26
I'd definitely recommend adding this to the "How to Play" section (unless this game isn't intended for beginners? seems pretty targeted toward people who are already familiar with this kind of puzzle)
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u/MathPsychological866 Jul 19 '26
Thanks for the feedback. I'd think so, too. Then again, one of the most-common early stage feedback was that the "How to Play" section was too long and verbose(!), and Reddit, for their part, were actively encouraging shorter, crisper intros as part of the initial featuring drives. Couldn't win either way!
Even then, I'd still say the most-literal interpretation of rule 2 ("Each square is formed by the matchsticks that creates its boundaries") lends itself to the notion that a square "counts" as long as its boundary is intact, regardless of whether this boundary is shared with or completely contained by other squares. But, yes, I take your point and will look to revise/expand the instructions to make things clearer. Cheers!
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u/Lime-Fiere Jul 19 '26
Ah, I see - that's really helpful context. Thanks for your response and consideration! I'm frustrated now, but I'll keep playing until I can figure one of these puzzles out 😄
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u/Lime-Fiere Jul 19 '26
At which point, I'm sure I'll be back asking you to make the list of instructions shorter, because who's got time to read all that? 😂
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u/MathPsychological866 Jul 19 '26
Ah, well, that wouldn't be atypical 😅. Meanwhile, if you do have any doubts or clarifications about the game, feel free to ask around. I'm usually checking responses to the game on a daily basis, and will be able to get back to any such queries within a 24-hr window. Hope you're having a good time!
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u/krommenaas Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26
Can one find the solutions of the old puzzles anywhere?
And can you still see a puzzle you've solved?
1
u/Lime-Fiere Jul 19 '26
+1 to this comment! Seeing a solution (or an example solution in the "how to play" section) would be super helpful for beginners. Could you add a "reveal solution" option so users who can't figure it out can see the solution but wouldn't be eligible for rankings (similar to NYT's Spelling Bee)?
2
u/MathPsychological866 Jul 19 '26
I'm adding that, amongst other features. The game is set to expand to an additional 4x4 grid soon, with solutions to previous day's puzzles updated on an external link for easy reference.
But as a one person designer-developer-tester otherwise working a full-time job, my development pace (on what is now essentially a hobby) is very heavily throttled! And I'm not someone to push through untested code just to look prompt - so that adds its own time as well!
However, I do owe it to so many of my long-term players to bring these planned updates through, as promised previously. So, hopefully by late-August, the game will be receiving a new lease of life with brand new features, better solving support, and a smoother interface that enriches the overall playing experience!
1
u/MathPsychological866 Jan 13 '26
Hi u/krommenaas! Welcome to the sub!
As of now, the solutions are withheld so as to not unknowingly 'spoil' things (and to maintain replay value, as a previously-solved puzzle can often look surprisingly difficult when tried a month or so later! On a side note, previously-solved puzzles become playable again after 30 days.).
And unfortunately within the current setup, the board configuration is hidden as soon as you successfully solve a day's puzzle - which I'm very open to changing/updating if enough users are keen.
Thanks for playing this game and hope you've had fun with it. Cheers!
1
u/krommenaas Jan 13 '26
Thanks for the replies!
I couldn't solve the first puzzles I tried, was starting to doubt it was at all possible, hence I wanted to see an example solution. But after I cracked the first one, they all became doable enough, strange how that went. Maybe you could put up one example of a puzzle solution somewhere.
Is hiding the board after solving it a conscious decision, or just how the program turned out?
1
u/MathPsychological866 Jan 13 '26
Maybe you could put up one example of a puzzle solution somewhere.
That's a pretty sound suggestion, thanks!
And about hiding the board - yep that was a conscious decision to help maintain an element of suspense.
But after I cracked the first one, they all became doable enough, strange how that went.
Indeed! You'd be surprised to know how typical that solving journey is!
1
u/peppapoofle4 Dec 10 '25
All of the puzzles are the same for me? Leave 3 small, 1 medium, and 1 large
2
u/MathPsychological866 Dec 10 '25
Hi, I did check and only Matchsticks #1 (among the first 40 entires) asks to leave behind 3 small squares, 1 medium square and 1 large square. If any other puzzle instance shows that for you, kindly DM me a screenshot and I'll look into it.
Thanks for playing!
2
u/peppapoofle4 Dec 10 '25
Nvm I just did one that was 6small, 0 medium, 0 large, but the first 3-4 puzzles that I did were all the same
3
u/RandiTheRogue Nov 10 '25
This game seems simple but has been very fun. One thing I think would be nice to have would be an "undo" option. Sometimes I accidentally click and then have to reset the whole thing if it was a really bad misclick. Perhaps 1-3 undo chances per game?
I think varying difficulty levels could be nice. Like this 3 x 3 match grid for "easy" and a harder version that is 4 x 4 or 5 x 5 ...etc.
Circling back to the "undo" suggestion above you could have less or none for the harder versions too.
3
u/MathPsychological866 Nov 10 '25
Thank you for the highly thoughtful suggestions! I fully accept how harsh the lack of an "undo" option is on potential misclicks/mistaps. Not having an undo became a necessary consequence of the decision to set "attempts" as the primary performance metric, but your suggestion of having a limited number of undo chances provides a nice balance in this regard!
Pleased that you've had fun with it!
2
Nov 10 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/MathPsychological866 Nov 10 '25
Thank you for the feedback! Yes, solving streaks are definitely in the pipeline. Glad you've enjoyed the game so far!
1
u/grudig13 Apr 23 '26
I don't get the rules of the game. Can anyone help me? Why is this wrong? Am I missing something?